England to make late call on Anderson

ENGLAND remain hopeful that Lancashire seamer Jimmy Anderson can remain part of their selection plans for Friday's World Cup opener with New Zealand. The key 24-year-old suffered a broken right little finger during catching practice on Wednesday to put his participation in the tournament in doubt.

ENGLAND remain hopeful that Lancashire seamer Jimmy Anderson can remain part of their selection plans for Friday's World Cup opener with New Zealand.

The key 24-year-old suffered a broken right little finger during catching practice on Wednesday to put his participation in the tournament in doubt.

But after sending the X-rays back to England for analysis, England remain hopeful Anderson will be able to play on despite a tentative contribution to today's practice session at the Beausejour Stadium.

Lancashire and England team-mate Andrew Flintoff explained: "I don't think a decision has been made on Jimmy yet. He's broken his finger and I'm not quite sure where he's at.

"It depends how well he can protect it and it depends how well he can do all the stuff in the nets and how he feels pain-wise - and how he rocks up in the morning."

Anderson bowled just a couple of tentative overs out in the middle under the supervision of physio Dean Conway and team doctor Mark Wotherspoon, who were deep in discussion after every couple of deliveries.

He also fielded for around 10 minutes but did not throw in with his right arm with any conviction and faced a few throwdowns in his pads to test the injury.

He did not go into the nets either to bat or bowl, however, and England are hopeful of a further prognosis later today once they have received the analysis of his X-rays.

Unlucky

His latest injury follows a series of back problems which ruled him out for most of last summer while he was also sent home midway through the one-day series with a suspected recurrence of those problems.

Flintoff continued: "He's been dogged by injuries and been really unlucky.

"He's had his back and one thing and another and we saw signs in the winter that he was back to his best.

"He was swinging the ball at pace, he was taking the new ball and taking a lot of responsibility on his shoulders and coming through so fingers crossed he'll be all right."

The England captain added: "You do get injured as a fast bowler.

"You probably don't expect your finger to go but you do pick up niggles here and there and it's part and parcel of the job.

"He's worked hard on his fitness and worked hard to get back to fitness and hopefully he'll be all right."

If Anderson fails to convince England's management that he is ready to face New Zealand, Jon Lewis is likely to be the beneficiary to claim his place in the attack alongside fellow seamers Flintoff and Liam Plunkett.

Should it be regarded as a serious break, Anderson is expected to be out for around three weeks, taking him into the middle of the Super Eight stage and leaving England with a dilemma of whether to wait for his recovery or replace him in the squad.